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 It was Saturday night, the sun was setting over the ancient towers and porticoes in Bologna, and Italians were filling outdoor terraces for their evening caffè. Just north of the city, I sat in a room full of frustrated immigrants who had gathered to listen to promises made by Cécile Kyenge, who just last week made history when she was appointed Italy's first black cabinet minister. 

 It would be a mistake to give too much weight to the desperate act of Luigi Preiti, the troubled, unemployed man who allegedly shot at and wounded two police officers in front of Palazzo Chigi, the official residence of Italy’s Prime Minister, late last month. And yet it is hard not to see something symbolic in the shooting, which occurred at the same time Italy’s new government was being sworn in. 

 Cecile Kyenge, Italy's first black government minister, proposes a law that would give citizenship to the children of immigrants if they are born on Italian soil. Under the current legislation, Italian nationality is passed on most commonly by blood, meaning the grandchildren of an Italian who has never set foot in the country has more rights to citizenship than someone who was born in Rome to foreign parents.
 

  It doesn't take a social anthropologist to see that Italians truly love a lot about American culture. It is evident everywhere, from the popularity of Coca-Cola and Levi's to the prevalence of American music and movies.